Drove three hours yesterday to Strathroy for  my grandmother's 91st birthday party.  The party was two hours or so.  Then drove three hours back to Toronto.  That was a lot of driving.  It was well worth it, though -- my grandmother is lovely, my aunt made fantastic pumpkin pie, and I got to see one of my cousins that I haven't seen in person in 20 ( Read more... )

On the elevator to work this morning, a woman asked me for directions.

When I replied, she told me that I have an American accent.

That's one I have never heard before.

Good weekend.  Fairly uneventful, because Jack has had a nasty cold, and didn't get a lot of sleep this past week.  So he was really in the mood to unwind and not be too ambitious.  With my grandmother's 91st birthday next week, and Thanksgiving the week after that, I will be doing a lot of travelling in the car this month, so I was pretty happy to ( Read more... )

I really needed a holiday.  Jack and I, as usual, had not planned anything, nor did we want to spend a lot of money.  One thing we got for our wedding was a whack of gift certificates for Fairmont hotels.  We didn't feel like travelling too far, but one place I'd always wanted to go was the Algonquin in St. Andrews, New Brunswick.   Nice old ( Read more... )

One down (Jesse Helms), one to go (Antonin Scalia).

It's been a long week thus far.  Work is just hard to stomach these past few days.

Jack is in a crappy mood, because the school year is fast approaching, and his kindergarten kids are getting wrangy.  Plus, the school is not air-conditioned, so he has to deal with the heat and humidity in a room full of 4-year olds.  On top of it, he has to stay ( Read more... )

The headline over at the Toronto Star website right now reads: "PM denies bugging claim"
(all to do with the Bernier affair, and leaving secret documents of state on his girlfriend's coffee table).  However, when I first glanced at it, I thought it read "PM denies buggery claim", which makes for a far more interesting headline, and suggests that the ( Read more... )

Last night, Jack and I went to see Crowded House at the Music Hall on the Danforth.  The band was in Toronto a year or so ago, at Massey Hall, but we had to give up our tickets to that concert because we both ended up with last-minute work commitments that night.  So, it was truly fortuitous that the band returned to Toronto fairly soon thereafter ( Read more... )

Why is it that when you call a customer service line, the automated response always asks you for your phone number or account number.

But a few minutes later, when you are talking to a real person, they need to ask you for it again.

Drives me nuts. 

Stolen from boy_asunder

Fifty best TV shows as voted by Empire Magazine readers - bold if you've seen every episode, italicize if you've seen at least one.

50. Quantum Leap
49. Prison Break
48. Veronica Mars
47. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
46. Sex & The City
45. Farscape
44. Cracker
43. Star Trek
42. Only Fools and Horses
41. Band of Brothers
40. Life on ( Read more... )